LINCOLN -- Daniel Kreis thought the Dental SHARING Clinic started at 5 a.m. on Nov. 11, so he rode his beat-up mountain bike nearly five miles from downtown Lincoln to the UNMC College of Dentistry about an hour before sunrise.

He was 12 hours early.

Kreis was back at the clinic half a day later, seeking relief from the same dull ache that had him on his bike before dawn.

Daniel Kreis rode his mountain bike five miles from downtown Lincoln to the UNMC Dental SHARING Clinic two separate times on Nov. 11. On his last trip, he had two molars removed and got a ride home from College of Dentistry Dean John Reinhardt, D.D.S. (Peggy Cain, College of Dentistry)

Kreis had two cracked molars and was referred to the Dental SHARING Clinic by a Lincoln clinic that caters to the underinsured, uninsured and homeless.

His mouth was a mess of plaque, cavities and nearly abscessed teeth.

The two cracked molars had to be pulled, which left gaping holes in the back of his mouth that third-year dental student Natalie Fendrick gingerly filled with gauze before Kreis was released.

Just after Kreis' teeth were extracted, College of Dentistry Dean John Reinhardt, D.D.S., and a few other dentists chatted at the front of the clinic.

Someone mentioned that one of the patients had come that morning by bike to the clinic. It was Kreis, another replied.

Out in the parking lot of the SHARING Clinic a little after 9 p.m., a cold rain started to fall as Dr. Reinhardt loaded the beat up mountain bike into the back of his grey SUV. Kreis -- minus the dull ache in his mouth -- sat in the dean's front seat, awaiting his ride home.